Most civil servants working in Abuja, the nation’s capital, are yet to resume work fully after the two days of public holidays to observe the Sallah celebration.
Recall that Politics Nigeria earlier reported that the Federal Government had declared Wednesday and Thursday as public holidays to mark the 2023 Eid-el Kabir celebration.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the Federal Secretariat in Abuja was almost deserted as only a handful of workers were present.
It was also observed that most major roads linking the nation‘s capital and other suburbs, which are always busy during weekdays, were also scanty.
Mr Ahmad Dada, a civil servant who spoke with NAN, blamed the low turnout of workers after the holidays on lack of money to return to work.
According to him, the delay in payment of June salary could have also contributed to the non-return of workers, especially those who travelled out of Abuja to celebrate in their various states.
His words:
“Personally, I couldn’t make it because when I heard of the transport fare, I was totally discouraged from going home to celebrate as I usually do.
“I strongly believe that this could have also affected others too as things are very hard for many Nigerians owning to the removal of fuel subsidy which is the current challenge facing many Nigerians.”
Also Speaking, Mrs Hellen Ukpabi said the Federal Government ought to have paid at least June salary on time to ease people’s suffering.
“Take a look at it, people are yet to get salaries, and how do you expect them to return to work?
“Even those of us around find it difficult to come to work everyday, how much more those who travelled,” she said.
Ukpabi appealed to the Federal Government to fast-track the planned palliatives to cushion the effects of the challenges Nigerians faced.
Another civil servant, Malam Yusuf Abubakar, said he expected the low turnout as the situation had always been this way whenever a public holiday falls within working days.
“It is our normal tradition in the country as a whole. The situation had always been like this whenever public holiday falls within the working days.
“It is difficult for the workers to resume as a good number of them who travelled home may want to use the opportunity to spend the weekend before coming back to resume on Monday.
“You can see a handful of workers here at the Secretariat, and if you should visit most of the government agencies in Abuja and the states, it is the same thing you would see.”
He, however, appealed to the Federal Government to always consider the period of festivities to pay an advanced salary to the civil servants to ease their plights.
